Boy Scouts appeals release of its files

The Boy Scouts of America is appealing a San Antonio judge's order instructing the group to release more than 20 years of confidential files it uses to keep pedophile suspects from becoming troop leaders or volunteers.

In an order in August, State District Judge Martha Tanner ordered the files released by Friday, which would have given the public a glimpse at hundreds of pages of internal BSA documents from the mid-1980s through 2011.

But earlier this week, the BSA instead filed in the 4th Court of Appeals in San Antonio a request for an expedited stay of Tanner's order.

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It argued that the BSA shouldn't have to release the files, because keeping them confidential would encourage victims to come forward.

The court granted the stay Thursday and requested the plaintiffs in the civil lawsuit respond by Dec. 7.

“They do not want to release anything is the bottom line,” said San Antonio attorney Pat Maloney Jr., who's representing a former Boy Scout who sued the organization over molestation at the hands of a scoutmaster.

The Irving-based BSA last month lost a similar battle in the courts in Oregon, and thousands of pages of Ineligible Volunteer files, also known as “perversion files,” from 1965 through 1985 were released and made headlines across the country.

Some of the files named former volunteers or troop leaders in Bexar County and throughout Texas.

The released files contain unsubstantiated allegations and names of people who reported wrongdoing, names of juveniles who alleged sexual assaults, and the names of accused men who were never charged.

“While the BSA has always cooperated fully with law enforcement, today the organization requires our members to report even suspicion of abuse directly to local law enforcement,” BSA spokesman Deron Smith said in a statement. “We maintain our Ineligible Volunteer Files solely to help our organization remove and keep out individuals deemed to be unfit leaders. The files also help us to protect youth and are one component of our broader Youth Protection program.